The Malaysia government’s target to install up to 10,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles (EVs) in the country by 2025 under the Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint 2021-2030 is on track, with around 700 charging stations nationwide having been set up so far, according to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

Muhammad Zulhilmi Ahmad, the industrial development director at MITI, said installation is being successfully made through collaboration with the private sector, national news agency reported on Wednesday.

“There are certain companies, mainly government-linked companies, willing to champion [this green effort]. We hope the target can be achieved to support the development of the local EV industry,” he was quoted as saying at Series 2 of Invest Malaysia titled “The Road to EV”.

The government has provided companies which are interested to build EV infrastructure in the country with tax incentives, such as pioneer status, as well as financial assistance.

The EV industry has become one of the hottest sectors among Southeast Asian countries. Often seen as the future of automobile, neighboring countries Indonesia and Thailand has hoped to become EV regional hubs, luring car makers from Japan, South Korea and the US to invest and build factories here. Countries including Malaysia and Vietnam have started to build EV charging infrastructure and governments are implementing policies to promote EV industry in a bid to reduce carbon footprint.

Last month, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced it has mobilized a $135 million climate financing package for VinFast Trading and Production Joint Stock Company (VinFast) for manufacturing Vietnam’s first fully-electric public transport bus fleet and first national electric vehicle (EV) charging network.

Utility company Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) expects the EV market to have grown to 18,000 charging points for 524,409 battery EVs on the road by 2030, with an annual electricity revenue of MYR1.25 billion ($265 million).

This equates to potential reduction of 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions by taking an equivalent number of internal combustion engines off the road.

Stock exchange Bursa Malaysia chairman Abdul Wahid Omar said the EV industry is an exciting growth area for Malaysia, offering great potential to create economic, social and environmental gains.

He noted that the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), to be launched by year end by way of auction, would play a key role in supporting the industries that could generate economic progress and environmental change.

“I strongly urge corporates to be among the auction’s early participants to demonstrate their leadership in climate action,” he said in his welcoming remarks at the event.

The VCM would facilitate price discovery for new products by serving as a reference price for carbon credit trading, and generating tangible price signals for potential issuers to embark on domestic carbon credit projects, he said.

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